Spanish-American War

The Spanish-American War (12 April-13 August 1898) was a colonial conflict fought between the United States and Spain in the Caribbean and the Pacific. The war was caused by yellow journalism in the USA, with publishers such as Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst agitating US public opinion towards war with Spain after several war scares; the American people were disgusted by Spanish brutality in suppressing the Cuban uprisings, while sugar companies sought to expand their markets to new colonies.

The battleship USS Maine was sent to the Cuban port city and capital of Havana, ostensibly to protect fleeing Cuban refugees, only to explode in the harbor on 15 February 1898. The US newspapers were quick to blame Spain when, in fact, the explosion had been caused by a coal fire, and the US government issued an ultimatum that demanded that Spain surrender Cuba to the USA. Spain responded with a declaration of war on 12 April 1898, and the USA declared war on Spain. In a ten-week war, US Army expeditionary forces disembarked on Cuba and Puerto Rico in the Caribbean and in the Philippines in the Pacific and fought alongside local insurgents, with the Americans beating the Philippine freedom fighters to capturing Manila in the Philippines. In Cuba, the Spanish Army was already weak due to a yellow fever outbreak and Cuban guerrilla attacks, and the Americans forced the Spanish stronghold of Santiago de Cuba to surrender after sinking the Spanish fleet in the harbor. On 13 August 1898, Spain decided to pay an indemnity of $20,000,000 (now $575,760,000) to the USA and to cede Puerto Rico, Guam, and Philippines to the United States while granting temporary control of Cuba to the USA. The war was one of only five formally-declared wars by the USA against a sovereign nation, and the war destroyed the Spanish Empire and raised concerns of American imperialism among the European powers. In 1902, Cuba was granted its independence from the USA as a republic, while the Philippines would remain a US protectorate until it was granted independence in 1946. Puerto Rico and Guam are still US territories.